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Amber Life by Inchdix

Bigfoot 10 10 10 10
carolinux 10 8 10 10
DJ Full 8 8 9 9
eRIC 8 9 9 9
Jorge22 9 9 10 9
Jose 5 9 9 10
Josey 8 10 9 9
Mman 9 9 10 9
Phil 9 9 10 10
Raq 6 8 7 8
Ryan 9 10 10 9
Saki Croft 7 9 8 8
Torry 10 10 10 10
 
release date: 20-Nov-2019
# of downloads: 203

average rating: 8.98
review count: 13
 
review this level

file size: 288.00 MB
file type: TR4
class: nc
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
inchdix@yahoo.com

Reviewer's comments
"Is quite immersive and satisfying even though much of those 45 kilometers was random activities and forced rerunning. I'd say it's a good level to play once, but a too tiring to enjoy a replay and call a masterpiece. The Hidden Garden remains Inchdix's opus magnum for now." - DJ Full (18-Feb-2023)
"Atmosphere, Sound & Cameras: I really like that the builder put some areas to resemble the classic TR, sounds are ok & camera hints sometimes are missing. Some levels reminds me about Tomb Raider 3 Gold Sleeping with the fishes. Some areas TR4, others even Tomb Raider Underworld which is great! Enemies, Objects & Secrets: The secrets are well hidden for being such, enemies were fine while the obejcts where the same repeated for every level, so I'd prefer more variation but it's ok. Gameplay & Puzzles: are ok but, since you have some moments where you are stuck because you forgot area or there isn't any camera hint to understand what one lever opened. But I was able to do and finish with all secrets the saga. Lighting & Textures: no complaints here, it's ok. The gameplay is very long if it's the first time that you're playing it, so it can go even 6+ hours but if you know what to do already, I've done on my YT channel, the full video walkthrough which is all complete with all key items,secrets and weapons collected, and I've done it in about 3 hours and 23 minutes. Difficulty: As a veteran of the TR saga I can say medium because the enemies didn't feel so challenging but it's still enjoyable thanks to the big areas that you can explore. :)" - Saki Croft (09-Mar-2022)
"This is a wonderfully crafted adventure consisting of 7 levels. The worlds are beautiful and immersive. The underwater world shown during the title view is perhaps the most complex and breathtaking of its kind that I've ever played. There are moments during the game where a camera view/sudden music/reveal of stunning landscape/unexpected enemy gave me pause. The difficulty of this game lies in the complexity of the worlds - each level has a large number of rooms and doors which need to be visited and revisited (so gameplay has a fair amount of backtracking). Certain openings or items are hard to see, so I used a lot of flares. Some puzzles involve tricky and/or timed jumps and there's also a few box puzzles and a flooding room challenge, which I thought was a novel idea. Overall, it was very satisfying to play. Only minor issue I have with it is that the enemies were rather few, so the shooting and hiding from enemies part of the adventure did not feel challenging. The most enjoyable level: The Ravine Most challenging one: HMS Botany Bay" - carolinux (29-Jun-2020)
"Levelset that gave mixed feelings while playing. On one hand : Settings at times with marvellous architecture excellent lighting and much attention to texturing and details, gameplay parts that are really fun and inspired ( the beginning of The ravine , some of the challenges in Secrets of the sea and HMS Botany bay ), a lovely atmosphere genrally . On the other hand a progression incorporating sometimes too much backtracking or redoings , a few textures that do not fit with the rest (in the two first levels) and objects that can cause confusion (movable block textured the same than a raising one, movable block looking like a door, underwater door looking like one of the normal doors) , not enough enemies and generally a feeling that life is lacking and purpose missing. Still the good sides weighed heavier than the negative impressions during the seven hours spent in these various settings (impressive rusty wrecks and the last level is beautiful) and anyway it is great these levels which we partly saw years ago in screenshots saw the light of release." - eRIC (19-May-2020)
"A bit a pity this wonderful adventure have only 8 reviews because this game is extraordinary. Since the beginning, I loved this adventure. The design of various trees, hills, canyons, rivers and buildings are perfects. I admit my personnal favorites levels are "Ship Graveyard" and "HMS Botany Bay" inside the boat upside down. I loved how the author create his map to simulate the returned boat with ceiling textures in floor and floor textures in ceiling. Just GREAT !! I can just congratulate Inchdix and GMac for this game. I remember seeing screens on internet in various forums but I never expected this game was release a day, so it was a great surprise when this adventure was finally online. Thanks guys for this marvelous work." - Bigfoot (05-May-2020)
"I am also amazed with the little number of reviews for a game by Inchdix and GMac, two master builders! Well, well, as a big fan of both, I had to submit my contribution. This is a beautiful game, with some very lovely environments; the submarine parts are an eye candy, for sure, and by themselves enough to make for some forbidding, dark areas. The gameplay involved a lot of backtracks by labyrinthic, big areas, and I don't favor this; and there's also some unexpected puzzling instances (I would never guess that we had to shoot a blue big object in order to open a door, for example). And mainly, I missed very much some camera hints to show what happened when Lara completed some expected tasks, such as installing objects at their appointed places or using levers. But you know what? In spite of this, I enjoyed very much the game: it was good fun from beginning to end, with clever, but not very diffiult tasks, plenty of lovely objects and secrets, skilled placing of enemies, and very well designed environments. Highly recommended!" - Josey (06-Apr-2020)
"Amber Life by Inchdix is a very good TRLE, with a lot of places to explore, riddles to solve and just a few enemies to defeat. I'll start to say what I DID LIKE:: The job that has been done with the textures, the lighting, the amount of enemies, the locations, some of the riddles, the location of the secrets. What I did NOT LIKE: The music is good, but it doesn't reflect the atmosphere of the levels at all. For example: you're in a calm place on which you just arrived, and a dramatic song suddenly plays. It makes anxiety rise for no reason. Some songs are great, but most of them are dramatic and they do not fit the levels at all. Then, what I didn't like are some of the riddles. Most of them are just "Pick up the gem, put it in there, now enter the door, pick up other two gems, put them in there, enter the door" and so on. This is particularly evident in the last to second level, which requires a constant backtracking which is quite annoying. What I didn't like THE MOST is the absolute absence of a story. There is no plot, no explanation on why Lara is doing all this and what her purpose is. At least I hoped to get even just one line of plot at the ending of the TRLE. But... nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just an anonymous NPC who tells Lara two sentences. Even tho this TRLE clearly has many flaws, I will still reccomend it. Especially for the second and the sixth levels, which I consider the two best levels of this TRLE. I finished the TRLE in 6 hours and 40 minutes. No health packs used and all secrets collected." - Raq (01-Mar-2020)
"Not very agree with the other reviewers; of course, this long adventure is very well designed, with a great architecture and very well lightened and textured; I liked the objects and the enemies too, and the location of some secrets, but the gameplay was really tedious and boring, always going from place to place only to pull switches or getting gems and a lot of backtracking again to pull more switches or getting more artifacts; and so on in all levels, except the last one, with less backtracking. The best: the great atmosphere and the environments." - Jose (16-Feb-2020)
"I'm rather amazed that after more than two months mine is only the fifth review of this mammoth release. I've been nursing it along here and there during and since the CaC competition, for this is a game best played in small doses. My game clock stood at just over eight hours when all was said and done, enabling me to bask in the aftermath of a well-conceived and executed raid. I had the feeling a number of times along the way, however, that what I was doing felt more like work than fun, hence my comment about playing it in bite-sized chunks. Jon had sent me a demo level for review many years ago, and when the finished project never appeared I assumed it had been consigned to the dust bin. GMac has done the community a huge favor by kneading and polishing the various parts into a coherent whole, and he is to be commended for this. Like MMan I have some curiosity about how all this may have come to pass, as well as who contributed what, but remembering the furor caused by my earlier review of Celtic Folly v2 (since withdrawn) I regretfully conclude that I have no real Need To Know. Of one thing I'm quite sure, however. The DOZY trap and accompanying readme were undoubtedly the sole brain child of GMac, who has demonstrated over the years an almost pathological hatred of cheating tools. For this reason I take some pleasure in reporting that GMac was unable to thwart my use of the god mode patch, which enabled me to explore the vast underwater areas at my leisure without any fear of drowning, not to mention being able to take my sweet time pouring lead into all those enemies trying to bar my progress. The lighting and textures are flawless throughout, and although ample flares are provided I had more than a hundred in my inventory at the end. This is a milestone release, one surely destined for Hall of Fame honors (if more players would get off their butts and review it)." - Phil (24-Jan-2020)
"Right. I'm very glad that this completed version of Amber Life saw the light of day. Quite an interesting set of levels with a globally nice balance between loads of tasks and a good atmosphere throughout. I must say I disagree with how logical it all was (most of them are in the end, aren't they?) because the game was, in my opinion, a bit too heavy on the backtracking front and, yes indeed, I did have to resort to both written and video walkthroughs quite a few times, especially in The Ravine and in the underwater levels, too frequently perhaps in the confusing HMS Botany Bay level. I still enjoyed it very much. And it ended on a lighter note with the last level, Amber Life. Recommended." - Jorge22 (23-Jan-2020)
"Here's another much anticipated return from a builder from yesteryear, in the form of Mr Hidden Garden himself. My understanding is that for one reason or another, Inchdix himself wasn't able to see this one through to completion, so GMac took the reins and finished it off while giving it a good spruce in the graphics department thanks to the next generation textures. The scenery throughout is extremely professionally rendered and pleasing to the eye (aside from a couple of areas that were a bit too greyscale and bland for my liking), the atmosphere is well executed and the music choice is sweetly done while the gameplay side of things has plenty of well thought out puzzles, traps and exploration segments to keep you occupied. George's style seems less omnipresent this time round, and it seemed to me that Inchdix's style shone through more. You begin in a forest/cave section, then progress onto an immense underwater cave-cum-sunken ship setting (I appreciated Lara's slightly longer "air time" in some of the trickier spots), before finishing off in a coastal location and meeting the guide for a finale. Enemies don't play a major role until near the end, but the secret locations are generally well thought out and sometimes quite tricky to obtain. I thought that the backtracking in the later levels was a bit excessive at times, but it's not really a major issue. A thoroughly enjoyable experience, when all is said and done." - Ryan (06-Dec-2019)
"It seems this was a set of levels mostly finished a long time ago, and finally brought together as a release by GMac; in that regard it's a little ambiguous how much of it is solely by Inchdix and how much was modified by others after to complete it. The overall style definitely has Inchdix's distinctive design throughout though; various Gmac set textures, objects and music are used, yet it's so distinct from the somewhat infamously cookie-cutter asthetic aspects of those levels it almost feels intentionally subversive, with those familiar GMac level cues inserted into a level set that feels nothing like one of those releases (though the first couple of levels have some Jungle Ruins type feel to the forested areas). The first couple of levels feel quite different to the rest, with you exploring various Jungle type areas and ruins (along with some Ganges-style river traversal); after that the theme completely switches to an undersea style that has little in common (although the very final level does bring some aspects back), with a giant underwater cave working as a hub leading into ancient ruins and a wrecked ship. The general visual quality is high, with the large hub cavern of the second part being the obvious centrepiece, but every level has impressive visuals and distinct style. Despite the general quality there are some missing textures in the first levels and the occasional obviously stretched wall, which could have been ironed out; these issues seem to go away later on though. I also had a secret trigger a second time when I returned to a level, there was also a torch that disappeared in that return too, however, there are spares and it was for a secret so it's not a big issue.
Gameplay is mostly fun and flows decently, with a heavy focus on exploration and relatively little combat. despite some large areas like the water cave there's generally enough clues to find the way (while not infinite, you also seem to have a somewhat longer air bar in that level to reduce frustration too), and a nice mix of traps and puzzles. It's not too hard, although there's the occasional difficulty spike for some challenges, and some thorough exploration is required. A few of the secrets are a little oddly placed and essentially along the main path, but then others are very interesting and elaborate, so the weaker ones get balanced out somewhat. The biggest issue is I felt the gameplay ran out of steam somewhat in the last couple of levels, with the penultimate one still having some nice challenges, but also a pointlessly long block puzzle and needless backtracking. The final level is short but has little going on with some minor puzzles and combat but nothing that suggests it's the finale, and it feels like that's a sign of it probably being a mostly unfinished level with some gameplay thrown in to justify it's inclusion. Even earlier there are one or two parts where it feels like something more elaborate is supposed to happen and then... Doesn't, but it's not really egregious until the end.
Overall a great set and worth playing, but the signs of it being partially a compilation of semi-related and not entirely finished maps comes through at times, and results in a less cohesive experience than Inchdix previous masterpieces, but that's the only real issue with it beyond the minor bugs." - Mman (29-Nov-2019)
"This is a massive game that took me eight hours to complete but the beauty of this is that I (or anyone) can master this without the aid of a walk through and that my friends is simply great level design. Sure I got stuck on occasions but generally because I missed something in my haste. The old forum adage of "Best Played with Eyes Open" certainly applies. There are no ultra tight timed runs, no pixel perfect jumps and no near impossible traps in this. The whole adventure encapsulates exploration and the environments you traverse are stunning. This is an older adventure that finally has seen completion and some of the ship sequences I remember testing good 16 years ago, before Jon gave up on it so it is great to see this finally completed. Having said that, none of the new moves you see in todays levels are present. This is a traditional raid in the greatest sense of what raiding is about. Gtaphics are great and the vistas marvellous. I loved it." - Torry (27-Nov-2019)